Super-capacitive Properties of Thick RuO2·xH2O Electrodes:Effect of Thickness,Binder and Carbon Black Addition

Hydrous ruthenium oxide,RuO2·xH2O,was synthesized through a sol-gel reaction of ruthenium chloride aqueous solution.The annealed RuO2·xH2O powders are aggregate of very small particles in nano-size of 70-80 nm and have abundant porous structure as observed by SEM.The effect of electrode thickness,PTFE binder and carbon black addition on the super-capacitive properties of thick RuO2·nH2O electrodes was investigated.At low scan rate of 5 mV/s,the specific capacitance of RuO2·xH2O (SCR,based on the weight of RuO2·xH2O only) for pure RuO2·xH2O and RuO2·xH2O-PTFE-CB electrodes can reach 665 F/g.Increasing electrode thickness and mixing PTFE into RuO2·xH2O lead to a degradation of SCR and rate capacity.By adding carbon black into RuO2·xH2O-PTFE mixture,the rate capacity of the thick electrode (RuO2·xH2O-PTFE-CB) can be improved close to the thick pure RuO2·xH2O electrode.However,mixing with PTFE and carbon black leads to a loss of the overall mass-specific capacitance.The reason for the dependence of SCR and rate capacity on electrode thickness,binder and carbon black addition was discussed based on the relation between the resistance and utilization rate of electrodes.